Hoyer Claims Congress ‘Specifically Authorized’ Obama to Bail Out Auto Companies—Even Though Congress Specifically Declined to Pass Auto Bailout Bill

(CNSNews.com) - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) said at his press briefing yesterday that Congress “specifically authorized” the Obama administration to bail out the auto industry—thus legally justifying the government takeover of General Motors--even though the highly publicized and hotly debated auto bailout bill that Congress considered in December was defeated when it could not overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

Hoyer’s explanation of the legal authority for President Obama’s takeover of General Motors differed significantly from what Hoyer said at a press briefing on March 31, when he was asked by CNSNews.com where the administration got the authority to take money out of the fund set up to bailout the financial industry and give it to auto makers such as Chrysler and General Motors. At that time, Hoyer said: “I don’t know technically where that authority would be.”

Hoyer contended Wednesday that Congress gave the president the power to buy a 60-percent interest in General Motors in the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that Congress passed in October for the specific purpose of buying troubled assets from “financial institutions,” which are defined in the law as banks, savings and loans, credit unions, insurance companies, brokerages and similar organizations.

Related Material...

• (CNSNews.com) - No Special Panel Needed to Oversee Government’s Ownership of Auto Companies, House Majority Leader Says